Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to honour Carol Burnett at the SAG Awards

By Sarah Kelsey

January 18, 2017

Two of comedies funniest women,
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will present industry heavyweight Carol Burnett with a Life Achievement Award at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards. The award recognizes an actor who fosters "the finest ideals of the acting profession."

At 82, Burnett will be the 52nd recipient of the statute (and, we should note, the 17th woman), joining a long list of honourees such as Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews,
Elizabeth Taylor and Dick Van Dyke.

The redhead became known for her hilarious musings on her 1960s sketch comedy program,
The Carol Burnett Show. She went on to win dozens of awards for her performances, including multiple Emmys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Carol has since made appearances on shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Mama's Family, Mad About You, Glee and Hot in Cleveland.

Of selecting Carol as this year's recipient, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard told
Variety she's a unique, creative dynamo. “She took risks as a performer and through her courage, encouraged fellow actors to try new things and always, always reach for the sky... Her innate love of actors led to the creation of an ensemble cast that made The Carol Burnett Show a masterpiece of variety programming.”

Amy echoed those sentiments in an interview for
The Carol Burnett Show: The Lost Episodes. “We all hail Carol as the queen for a lot of reasons... One is because we grew up watching her, and we will always have those memories of discovering comedy with her and through her. And the other is that she’s so versatile.” Having formerly starred on Saturday Night Life, Amy and her co-presenter Tiny know the importance of versatility in sketch comedy.

This won't, of course, be the first time Tina, 45, and Amy, 44, have appeared onstage together. The duo hosted the Golden Globes in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and were the first all-female anchors on
Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. They've co-starred in hilarious films like Baby Mama and the recently released Sisters.

The 22nd annual SAG Awards will air on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m. ET.

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